1. Field of the Application
The field of the present patent application relates to the pet feeding and watering devices.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Food and liquid receptacles, commonly dishes, designed to contain food and drink for ready consumption by humans and/or animals are well known. In particular, there are many well known designs for dishes to be used with or on behalf of domesticated animals, such as reptiles, rodents, cats, dogs, and the like. Other designs are used for nondomesticated but captive animals such as those that one might find in a zoo or circus.
Most such dishes are very simple temporary containers having a generally circular shape when viewed from above and a generally concave interior suitable to retain food or liquid. Most often the dish is sized for convenient use at a specific location, such as one's home, or with a specific animal. For example, larger dishes are often used for larger animals.
When using such a prior art design of dish, a user conveys food or water from a remote location, like a bag of food or a water faucet, to the dish whenever necessary. Moreover, the only convenient way of changing the location of such prior art dishes is for someone to bend over pick up the dish and transfer it to another location.
More recent designs of pet dishes try to address the limitations of older designs by adding means for filling the dish somewhat remotely. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,081,957 to Louis E. Warner, Jr. (the “'957 patent”) discloses a pet feeding and watering dish having an attachable hose. However the '957 patent does not disclose a semi-permanent supply tube suitable to hold a bottle of water. Moreover, the '957 patent and other prior art references do not disclose a collapsible system.
Thus, the prior art fails to disclose, teach or suggest a means of remote filling of a pet dish especially in combination with a convenient transport of the same. Moreover, the prior art fails to disclose, teach, or suggest a device that allows for convenient filling of a pet dish by insertion of a bottle that the device will then hold allowing a user to walk away from the device. What is needed, therefore, is a design for a food or liquid receiving and feeding apparatus that provides a means for remote unattended filling of the dish and a means of easy transfer of the dish from one location to another.